Intimacy
by Legacy of the Phoenix
Summary: Feeling like he has been neglecting her, Clark spends more time with Kyla. Shares continuity with "Balance", "Transfer", "Discovered", "Beast", and "Kawatche". Features a steamy scene.


It is now senior year at **_Smallville High School_ **and graduation is right around the corner. Everyone has mixed feelings about the forthcoming event. Well, not everyone. Clark, Kyla, Pete, and Chloe are clearly disheartened about a major chapter in their lives coming to a close even though they feel like they are not ready.

It has been but a mere two years since Pete's family received their old creamed corn factory back and he himself has taken up a supervising position within it. A mere two years since Chloe accepted a junior internship at the **_Daily Planet_**. A mere two years since Kyla forced Lionel Luthor to relent **_Miller's Bend_ **to her people and just like with her friends, it feels like a lifetime ago.

For Clark, it is more or less the same. It has been but a mere two years since he teamed with Lex and his friends to fight the contemporary issues that have long plagued the Kawatche Tribe. For the most part, it has worked. Crime is down due to a technological system that works well with the fact that the Tribal Police are still severely understaffed. Alcoholism is at a record low due to the recent prohibition movement started by the Tribal Courts. **_The Red Buffalo_ **casino is now run by an upstanding, upright Kawatche man indirectly handpicked by Lex himself. Kawatche youth begin to see the possibility of a future. Many are staying in school and are being shuttled to schools in town. Some of the older ones actually have internships at LEXCORP, which is no longer Luthorcorp due to Lionel passing as a result of a terminal liver disease. Though the Kawatche still have some serious residual problems in the form of health, trauma, and racism, hope remains around the corner.

But as for Clark himself, he has finally finished and published his book that he has been writing and re-writing for the past two years. It is titled, _Small Town, Big Problems_. It is a modest success and the young farmer has received a bit of income from it. Should it gain enough traction, he will be asked to be interviewed, as a teenaged author from a small town, even by modern standards, is still a big deal. Despite this, Clark only wants to take life one step at a time. Make each moment last. Recently, he has spent an enormous amount of time with his friends and family. Now, he wishes to spend more time with Kyla, for whom he has major plans.

As for Lex, one would think he is satisfied with his life now. His father is out of the picture. He has the company all to himself, which now has greater revenue than it ever has before. He even maintains his friendships despite their youth compared to him. On this subject, he has even written a check to keep the Kent Farm going so that Martha would not have to keep working for the company and instead would be home with her family. Despite this, Lex feels a void. A void of curiosity.

"Hmm." Lex explores the caves and locates the octagonal impression in the wall, recalling when he chose to bail out Joseph Willowbrook and planned to find the connection between the disc and the caves. Problem is, so many things had started to happen at once and it threw him completely off balance and scattered his priorities. No more. This, along with the company and his friends, is a priority.

* * *

In the kitchen of the Kent House, Clark pops some popcorn while Pete pours some soda into a couple of cups as they observe a Boxing match, not being interested in baseball season. They talk to waste some time before the fight starts.

"Appreciate this, Clark man." Pete pats him on the shoulder.

"No problem, Pete." Clark explains, "Figured I'd do this last thing with you before I start back giving Ky my full attention. Feel like I've been blowing her off a lot lately."

"Huh, with me and Chloe, it's the opposite." Pete snickers, "She thinks I'm gettin' too clingy. _Me!"_

"She's gonna want that once we graduate." Clark shrugs.

"Don't say that word again. It's creepin' up enough as it is." Pete remarks.

"And when it's done creeping…" Clark takes out Kyla's bracelet and shows it to a surprised Pete. He explains, "Yeah, it's hers. I made a fake one and told her parents what I was up to so they'd swap them out. I'm gonna do it, Pete. Come graduation…I'm gonna _propose."_

"Wow. You're serious." Pete realizes. He knows Clark better than most, so he knows where his heart is.

_"…the fight of the decade!"_

"Oh, it's on!" Pete excitedly rubs his hands together.

"Finally!" Clark eats some popcorn.

* * *

At Chloe's house, Chloe herself and Kyla take a break from meteor freaks and journalism to watch something of their own. During the commercial, the girls discuss something personal.

"No way!" Chloe remarks in shock, "You and Clark still haven't sealed it?"

"It's…complicated." Kyla shrugs.

"No, it's not." Chloe chuckles. "Get your parents to leave for 30, maybe 45, minutes and make some noise in the barn like animals! Pete got his whole family to leave for an hour so we could have the basement to ourselves. Unless…you're scared to. Or you don't want to."

"No, I definitely want to. I just don't know if _he_ does." Kyla admits. "I mean, he's not perfect, but he's not far off either. His parents brought him up as a straight arrow. He might not think it's right. Safe or not."

"That does sound like him." Chloe responds, "But, spaceman or not, Clark's still a guy. All guys have it on their minds whether they admit it or not. He just might be trying to do it in a charming, cornball way. Which, of course, sounds just like him."

Kyla ponders on Chloe's words just as…

"Oh! Oh! It's back on! It's back on!" Chloe shushes.

* * *

During lunch, as she gets her tray of food, Kyla also gets a text from Clark to meet him under the bleachers outside. She grins. Moments later, she eats lunch with Clark on a picnic blanket. They smile warmly at each other, just as in love with each other now as they have ever been. Making good on his promise, Clark spends much more time with Kyla than he has for a while; previously being too distracted with helping her people, working on his book, and hanging out with Pete.

He begins by taking her to a movie in _**Granville**_, as Smallville still does not seem to have one anymore. She cuddles up to him during one of the romantic scenes.

Next, Clark takes Kyla to the windmill atop _**Chandler's Field**_, where they have lunch together. Kyla feeds Clark a slice of chocolate cake as her warm eyes lock onto his. He in turn inserts a chocolate-covered cherry into her mouth, unable to tear his eyes away from her elegant beauty.

Then, as a callback to when they first met, Clark and Kyla explore yet another cavern of the caves as they hold hands. On the wall, they see a painting of _Naman_ holding hands with a woman. The mother of the Kawatche people. They embrace and kiss in front of this pictograph. As they leave, Clark notices some equipment next to the octagonal impression on the wall but decides to ignore it due to his wanting to just focus on his time with his girlfriend.

Sometime after that, Clark and Kyla are cuddled up on the former's couch in the loft as they hold hands and read his published book together. This actually was not Clark's idea, but Kyla's.

Finally, at the Willowbrook House, Clark sits at the kitchen table as Kyla makes them both dinner. A spaghetti dinner. Clark is surprised that Kyla knows her way around a kitchen given what an independent, outgoing person she is. She and Clark eat together with a candlelight but are not alone.

"I know you're still here! I can hear you!" Kyla bellows to her parents.

"Me too!" Clark adds.

Karen pushes Chance out the front door, "Sorry, kids! Out you go, Chance! Out! Out!"

Clark and Kyla lock eyes once more as they hold hands.

Once dinner is over and Clark washes the dishes, he and his girlfriend exchange multiple good night kisses before he departs. Kyla, though enjoying the dinner, remains disappointed still. Longing for her and Clark to consummate.

The following Friday night, Clark sits in his room in front of the computer and holds his phone close as part of a good-intention deceit towards his parents. He has special plans tonight while they are away for the weekend.

"Clark." Jonathan knocks on the door. "Clark, we told you. All the checks for your book will come in the mail. And it's late. No one's going to call you for an interview."

"I know, I just...I'm just really excited, you know?" Clark cleverly lies. He is excited all right, but not about his book.

"I know you are, son." Jonathan explains, "But don't wait your evening away. See your friends. Or let them come see you."

"But _no_ wild parties." Martha sternly walks up to the doorway. "You got away with it your freshman year, but you know better now."

"You don't have to worry about that, Mom." Clark nods, "You and Dad have a good weekend."

"You too." Martha touches his shoulder, "We'll call you once we get to the hotel."

Jonathan and Martha leave. To make sure he is not caught doing what he has planned to do, which is something he knows he is not supposed to do, Clark watches TV in anticipation for his parents to call him to tell him they made it. They do and an excited Clark immediately turns off the TV. He texts Kyla and once she pulls up on the farm,

WOOSH! Clark speeds into the barn and does something unseen.

Kyla enters the barn, "Clark, what-"

She stops speaking when she sees that Clark has refurbished the barn into a romantic setting complete with candles and a large, comfortable tarp. She smirks in excitement. It's happening. It's really happening. She walks up to him as he stands next to the tarp.

"Wanted to make it special." Clark tells her.

_Without another word, Kyla passionately kisses Clark and removes his shirt. Clark in turn removes her blouse, revealing her pink bra. Mere moments later, the two teens make love on the tarp, their nudity not being seen. Kyla moans in delight as Clark lovingly kisses her neck as he caresses her from behind. He continues to do so when they stand to their knees with her bending her arm back to stroke his hair. They lay down and caress again, but this time, they face each other and kiss passionately. Clark holds her hands as he kisses her stomach and lays himself atop her body as he caresses her some more, causing her to roll her eyes in joyful pleasure. Kyla kisses Clark's chest before she gets atop him, both moaning as a sign of deeply enjoying the endeavor. She bends over and kisses him passionately as she rubs his cheek and hair with one hand and touches his chest with the other. Before they know it, they are asleep with half of the tarp being the only thing covering their nudity. Kyla smirks as she rests her head and hand on Clark's chest, highly satisfied with their consummation. _

* * *

At LEXCORP that same late night, Lex sits in his office and begins to have a steady stream of thoughts concerning the _**Kawatche Caves** _and the octagonal impression in the wall, having spent an enormous amount of time using advanced equipment to try and trick the caves into revealing their secrets without the disc. His fascination with the story of _Naman_ and _Sageeth,_ even with the idea that _Sageeth_ is the hero of the story, are overshadowed by all the other secrets the caves could hold. Life on other planets. Alien life on this planet. Maybe even how to improve and protect the world from its own self-destruction by learning from both scenarios. Such possibilities are not practical if he does not have the disc, he realizes. Problem is, Lex does not know the first place it could be, having not seen it for the last few years.

"Huh." Lex pours himself some scotch out of frustration. By sheer chance, he looks to the vault and begins to wonder. A couple of years ago, Lex caught his father in the lie of being blind due to the latter being shaken up by his attack by a transformed Kyla. After which, he had been forced to come clean to his son about everything he learned while pretending to be blind, which included his finding of an object with a connection to the caves; hence why Lionel was so reluctant to hand over Miller's Bend until he was caught by surprised and forced to relent. It occurs to Lex that that object may be the disc and that of all places to hide it, the most logical one would be in the vault. In his office. Interestingly, even though he has always noticed it and even knows the code to it, he has never really had to go into it. Not until now.

"How could I be so stupid? It's obvious." Lex shakes his head in internal disbelief. He walks up to the vault and enters the code.

CLANK! CREAK! The vault door opens and inside is a cart full of meteor rock bars and files on several people. Including Clark.

Lex walks in and is flabbergasted by what he sees. His father not only knew about the caves, but the meteor rocks, as well? And what is the deal with the files on all of these other people, including and especially Clark? Part of Lex feels that reading the file would finally give him insight on his young friend that he has never had before. After all, his father never did anything or looked into anyone without a reason. But then, he figures to himself, maybe Lionel went after Clark because the young farmer helped to hamper his plans for the Kawatche Caves and managed to get Joseph Willowbrook bailed out by seeking out Lex himself.

"Ha!" Either way, those notions quickly disappear from Lex's mind when he realizes that his suspicions are in fact well-founded. The disc is in fact in the vault. On the cart. He immediately grabs it, closes the vault, and rushes out the door with his security team right behind him as he speaks into his cell phone, "Get the chopper ready. We're going back to Smallville."

Once back in Smallville, more specifically the caves, Lex wastes no time inserting the disc into the impression. At first, nothing seems to happen. There is not even a sound other than the helicopter's propellers slowing down outside.

Whir! A faint noise suddenly breathes from the wall where Lex has inserted the disc. Before the young billionaire's eyes, the disc goes further into the wall and unleashes a deafening high-pitched noise. Lex drops to his knees as he covers his ears in pain.

Whiiir! Dreeee! DooooooooooSHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM! A large burst of white energy projects from the wall and completely engulfs Lex, who falls to the ground completely unconscious. Completely comatose.

* * *

Clark awakens as if he senses something, careful not to sit up too suddenly due to a sleeping Kyla still laying on his chest. Believing it is nothing, he kisses Kyla on the forehead as he touches her hand and returns to sleep.


End file.
